1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to optical computers and to the frequency multiplexing of photonic transistor functions such as amplification, Boolean logic, and control energy beam signals.
2. Background Art
The applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,802 contains the background art for the present invention. It uses interference between modulated and unmodulated input beams of wave-type energy. The functions are defined in terms of constructive and destructive interference component regions at a fringe component separator, such as a mask, which is used to separate energy from at least one component region to provide at least one output. Interference is produced between input beams of coherent energy capable of producing the interference fringes and the various outputs described.
That patent provides several functions, including a two-input OR, an EXCLUSIVE OR, an inverter, and an amplifier, and various bistable devices, all having outputs which are waveforms superimposed on single-frequency carrier waves. Absent from the prior art are any means or method for frequency multiplexing or the simultaneous operation of multiple independent functions using multiple-carrier wave frequencies within a single device. At the time of the writing of U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,802, it was recognized that such devices were not limited to one certain wavelength, as indicated by the following from col. 11 line 14 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,802:
"Since the ability to separate component regions of an interference fringe, as required by the present invention, is not limited by the wavelength of the wave-type energy used, the operational wavelengths are able to be selected from the visual range of the electro-magnetic spectrum. Then a group of multiple outputs such as (104) are able to function as a direct visual display output. By using multiple wavelengths, simultaneously or in rapid succession, the multiple outputs are able to function as a full color visual display."
While a group of devices designed to operate at more than one wavelength, as with the red, blue, and green wavelengths needed to produce a full-color display, would require "multiple outputs" and thus multiple components, the idea and mechanism for accomplishing simultaneous frequency-multiplexed operation within a single device was not yet apparent. Later, after having discovered the means for implementing frequency multiplexing, the applicant also recognized the advantages of frequency multiplexing.